Rural News

Government faces a stark choice: back British food production in order to secure a home-grown supply of sustainable food or risk seeing more empty shelves in the nation’s supermarkets, the NFU warned today.

Exhibitors gathered at the new Cereals Event site last week to examine their crop plots and discuss plans for the event. Despite torrential rain, the new location, at Thoresby Hall, Newark, looked a picture, with the 60ha site protected by trees on the edge of Sherwood Forest.

The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), the farming charity for England and Wales, has launched its Christmas Appeal to support farming people over the festive period, when many are having to severely cut back on their spending.

Leading rural insurer NFU Mutual is urging farmers to act now to protect their farms from the devastating impact of storms as winter approaches.  

With annual inflation now in double figures, salaries are being driven by not only a shortage of good staff, but also the cost -of-living crisis, according to Knight Frank’s biennial Estate Staff Salaries Survey.

With the countryside being a popular destination for recreational activities, both visitors and landowners have a responsibility to ensure rural areas are safe to enjoy for all.

A team of students from Pipers Corner School in High Wycombe have been crowned winners of LEAF Education’s National Competition in Food, Farming and Natural Environment 2022.  This year’s finalists’ weekend, run by LEAF Education, in partnership with Bayer and Coleg Cambria, was held at Coleg Cambria in Llysfasi, North Wales, over the weekend of 21-23 October.

Suffolk’s next generation of farmers have received potentially life-saving advice on staying safe around electricity through visit from UK Power Networks.

Former Director General of MI5, The Baroness Manningham-Buller LG DCB said home grown food production is integral to our national security, at the NFU’s 2022 Henry Plumb Memorial Lecture.

Farmers were encouraged to look after their health and safety at the Midlands Machinery Show, with a demonstration of what to do if they are involved in or come across a farm accident.

Those looking to sell farmland and estates in 2023 are being advised to prepare for a sale well ahead of the spring season to make their property more attractive to buyers.

The NFU Mutual is urging farmers to increase security on their premises following a recent surge in tractor and GPS equipment theft on East Anglian farms.